Anti-Abortion Group Takes on Contraception

The Pro-Life Action League sponsored a conference this past weekend in Rosemont, Illinois, criticizing the use of birth control. The conference, called “Contraception is Not the Answer,” brought Christian conservatives together to extend the anti-abortion movement, organizing against all methods of artificial reproductive control. Joseph Scheidler, the leader of the Pro-Life Action League, explained the need for this shift in the movement to the Chicago Tribune, saying “contraception is more the root cause of abortion than anything else.”

The conference presented participants with several arguments against artificial birth control, including claims that birth control promotes sexual promiscuity and decreases the birth rate, Chicago Tribune reports. Damon Clarke Owens, president of New Jersey Natural Family Planning and a conference participant, adds that contraception changes the act of sex between a man and a woman into something other than a “unconditional gift to self” by rejecting “God’s gift of children,” according to the Chicago Tribune. Others falsely claimed that contraception doesn’t always prevent conception and must therefore be considered abortion.

Whether the conference’s message will resonate with the American public, however, is dubious. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 98 percent of sexually active 15- to 44-year-old women and girls have used at least one method of contraception and a Harris Interactive poll in July shows that 91 percent of likely voters believe that birth control options should be accessible to the American public, Kaiser reports.

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